Sadegül Akbaba Altun

A Qualitative Case Study of Tablet Use in a High School in Turkey

Within the scope of FATIH project, tablet PCs have been distributed to teachers and students starting with pilot schools. The purpose of this study is to understand students’, teachers’, and administrators’ first-hand experiences on using tablet PCs at their schools from a qualitative paradigm. A total of 101 students, 13 teachers, and 4 administrators participated in this study. Data were gathered through interview forms. Three different interview forms, which contained 12 open-ended questions for students, 10 questions for teachers, and 8 questions for administrators are prepared. Participants were asked to fill the interview forms. Data analyzed by descriptive and content analysis. It was found that students preferred tablet use for entertainment, communication, and educational purposes. Teachers had doubts about the educational benefits of tablet PCs. Administrators faced mainly the technical problems. One reason of this result may be attributed to introducing two novelties (interactive boards and tablet PCs) at the same time. Second, when teachers and students made comments about their experiences, they mainly compared tablet PCs with interactive whiteboards. These experiences might lead us to conclude that if you put two novelties together into the system at the same time, it is possible that one will fall under the shadow of another and will be preferred more than the other. Thus, it can be suggested that in order to have successful ICT integration, novelties can be introduced into the system one by one but aligned with each other, and with the curriculum.

A Case Study on Ethno-Cultural Mobbing and Experiences in Schools

Mobbing, which threatens organizations, is a kind of psychological coercion in a context of workplace violence. Mobbing creates a kind of psychological pressure at work that can lead to pathological problems that threaten the victims’ private life and lead to great damage to individuals both spiritually and physically. In a conceptual framework of mobbing, personal, organizational, and social reasons may cause the victimization. The aim of this paper is to identify mobbing phenomena at educational organizations which are rooted in ethno-cultural differences by analyzing and interpreting critical examples of specific events of mobbing. This study has employed a case study of qualitative approach. Data were collected through in-depth interviews. Findings indicated that there could be differences and similarities between the mobbing experiences of victims, depending on the reasons. Mobbing behaviors rooted in ethno-cultural reason could be applied collective and multi-directed among different groups; causes could be more hurtful and, have broader implications for workplace violence than other kinds of mobbing, with the possibility of physical violence and destruction.